Eye health seeking habits and barriers to accessing curative services among blind beggars in an urban community in Northern Nigeria.

Objective: The aim of the following study was to determine the types of intervention sought by the blind street beggars and assess the barriers to accessing available eye care services.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among consenting blind street beggars in Sokoto, Nigeria between May and June, 2009. A semi-structured interview was conducted to probe issues on historical antecedents of the blindness and the eye heath seeking behavior including the use of traditional eye medications.